Methanol

[Kozzmozz]

I was looking to clean my glass with the ISO and salt mix, but I could not get my hands on ISO.
The home depot guy sold me methanol instead, the bottle states that it is specifically for cleaning glass and €3 for one 1l is not much so I bought it.
But is this stuff safe to use? All these warnings at the back are making me doubtfull.
(no contact, not inhaling, gloves, poisonous, skin eating,...)

It says it degreases cristal objects and is an additif for cleaning windows=> vapable?

Thanks!

 

[Kozzmozz]

Ok so this is what I did:
This bong was gifted to me 10 years ago, and it was never used often only a couple of times a year.
I simply could not handle the monsterous hits it produced.
But I never cleaned the darn thing, not once.

So this nasty stickness was accompanied by chalk resin from my shitty tapwater.

I wanted to avoid the methanol as I discoverd this is poisonous crap.
So I took rum instead.
I did two 10min sessions of wild shaking with thick rough salt. It helped but far from clean.
But even using the safe ethanol I felt my skin was iritated by the stuff when it dripped on me during shaking.

Then I knotted three kitchen towels to one another and stuffed/twisted them in. (it's a large bong)
Then I added salt and some methanol through the carb hole. Did this outside, wearing wintergloves.
I do not trust this stuf.
But It worked really well this way. All the resin is gone but at the base there is still some chalk but I gave up.

I rinsed everything for 10 min with super hot water in the shower, and then again with soap and piping hot water.

Now is thing shiny, but is it safe? I don't smell, see or notice anything weird besides my gloves who are nasty salty stiff.


TLDR: Rum works for lightly dirty glass but is too weak to deal with 7year old gunk.
Lesson two: methanol is scary and I don't know if I can trust my bong now.

 

[herbivore21]

Methanol is perfectly safe to use for cleaning glass if it is fully cleaned out after the rig is used. Unfortunately, 99% of vaporists I've met do not fully clean their glass properly and just give it a quick rinse and decide arbitrarily when it is done. I've noticed that when these people first clean their rigs, the next hit tastes of solvent.

With methanol, this might lead to problems over time with cumulative exposure. Remember, methanol is most problematic when you ingest it and it goes through your GI tract. Inhalation is not the same kind of concern (it would be possible to swallow methanol that has been breathed into the mouth though). With that said, I would not want to inhale any methanol or any other solvent at all.

Rinse your rig well with methanol until it is completely clean. Then, pour all methanol out. Rinse it with cold water many times until there is no noticeable methanol smell. Then rinse it with the hottest possible water from the tap multiple times (methanol boils much lower than water, if you can get that glass beyond ~149f or so - 65c for you Europeans, you'll help any methanol remaining on the glass to evaporate). Be mindful to avoid hard water if you wanna avoid the stains that come with it.

Just want to confirm also that your bong is all glass? If so, you should have no problems following the above

 

[howie105]

I was looking to clean my glass with the ISO and salt mix, but I could not get my hands on ISO.
The home depot guy sold me methanol instead, the bottle states that it is specifically for cleaning glass and €3 for one 1l is not much so I bought it.
But is this stuff safe to use? All these warnings at the back are making me doubtfull.
(no contact, not inhaling, gloves, poisonous, skin eating,...)

It says it degreases cristal objects and is an additif for cleaning windows=> vapable? Thanks!

I hot water rinse it after cleaning and it has worked fine every tine., or I haven't fallen over dead, yet.

 

[Kozzmozz]

Methanol is perfectly safe to use for cleaning glass if it is fully cleaned out after the rig is used. Unfortunately, 99% of vaporists I've met do not fully clean their glass properly and just give it a quick rinse and decide arbitrarily when it is done. I've noticed that when these people first clean their rigs, the next hit tastes of solvent.

With methanol, this might lead to problems over time with cumulative exposure. Remember, methanol is most problematic when you ingest it and it goes through your GI tract. Inhalation is not the same kind of concern (it would be possible to swallow methanol that has been breathed into the mouth though). With that said, I would not want to inhale any methanol or any other solvent at all.

Rinse your rig well with methanol until it is completely clean. Then, pour all methanol out. Rinse it with cold water many times until there is no noticeable methanol smell. Then rinse it with the hottest possible water from the tap multiple times (methanol boils much lower than water, if you can get that glass beyond ~149f or so - 65c for you Europeans, you'll help any methanol remaining on the glass to evaporate). Be mindful to avoid hard water if you wanna avoid the stains that come with it.

Just want to confirm also that your bong is all glass? If so, you should have no problems following the above

Thanks, I think I did good with the hot water then! And yeah all glass piece!
I'm still going to avoid using it, but for the hard needed rinse it really helped. But I'm going to do it more often (even though I think it will be less dirty with vapour) and then I'll stick with the rum...

But in reality, rinsing is important even with rum, the mixture that is created with the salt is really corrosive I think. Nasty stuff.

Cheers

 

[jl420]

My OCD process for cleaning my glass is industrial grade Methanol (Thanx work) and Kosher salt. The coarser grains do a better job than regular table salt. A few mins of vigorous shaking usually cleans out my glass pretty damn good. After a few good rinses I'll use some liquid dish soap and run warm water until all the soap is gone. Gives my glass a real clean smell and gets rid of any 'solvent' taste.

 

[MoltenTiger]

There's a lot to be said for using PBW (powdered brewery wash) to clean glass bongs.

I cleaned my friends combusting piece the other day with PBW, it caused the large majority of the baked on resin to peel off as a big skin.
It still needs to be cleaned with a pipe brush to get rid of the ridiculous resin in the downstem, but the rest of the previously heavily dirtied piece glistened after a couple of 10 min soaks.

PBW is free rinsing, safe to go down the sink, safe to handle (though it's extremely slippery!) and works much more easily and efficiently than an alcohol IMO, though solvent cleaning has its merits and is critical for certain tasks too

 

[Kozzmozz]

I've never heard of it. Any more info on that PBW?
Where can I (EU) get the stuff? Sounds interesting

cheers

edit: does someone has tips for cleaning the chark resin from the hardend tap water?
My initial thought was: the de-chalk stuff I use in my bathroom. Works fine there, and it
is bio-degradable brand. But then again.... In our mode of use.

 

[MoltenTiger]

I've never heard of it. Any more info on that PBW?
Where can I (EU) get the stuff? Sounds interesting

cheers

edit: does someone has tips for cleaning the chark resin from the hardend tap water?
My initial thought was: the de-chalk stuff I use in my bathroom. Works fine there, and it
is bio-degradable brand. But then again.... In our mode of use.

Here's the PBW thread, there is quite a bit of info within
It is basically a powdered cleaner designed to clean glass equipment with baked on carbon stains. So for our use it is perfect.
you should be able to source it locally from a brewery supplies store, it's made by 5 Star Chemicals

PBW might be able to get rid of hard water stains too, it will probably require very hot water and multiple rinses

 

[howie105]

I've never heard of it. Any more info on that PBW?
Where can I (EU) get the stuff? Sounds interesting

cheers

edit: does someone has tips for cleaning the chark resin from the hardend tap water?
My initial thought was: the de-chalk stuff I use in my bathroom. Works fine there, and it
is bio-degradable brand. But then again.... In our mode of use.

Vinegar is good for cleaning calcium off glass, letting it soak for a period maybe necessary depending on the amount of build up.

 

[Kozzmozz]

Vinegar is good for cleaning calcium off glass, letting it soak for a period maybe necessary depending on the amount of build up.

Off course! How come I did not come up with that! I use it for my kettle all the time
Thanks!